The Change
by TigressDreamer
Summary: Easter heralds changes and things are no different for the residents of Sombreville. Less than half a year ago there was the first spark between the serious mayor and the fiery mechanic. Just what all changes have happened? Or more importantly, what changes are still to come? (Sequel to The Plan. Rated to be safe.)
1. The Change

**Disclaimer for the entire story: Sadly, I do not own Strange Magic, although I do have the DVD that I play once a week. All names and places are coincidental.**

**You weren't going to get this until next week but I decided to upload it now. Constructive advice is appreciated but please refrain from criticism. Enjoy!**

Bog chuckles as he walks into his bedroom to find his lover still asleep, his share of the blankets now securely wrapped around her petite figure. Even four weeks later and he still has a hard time believing that this is his new reality. Sometimes he has to pinch himself to assure that this isn't a dream. So much change in so little time. Though, in a way, it's almost like nothing has changed at all and he has to remind himself that she isn't visiting on vacation.

Deciding to give her a few more minutes, he rummages through his side of the dresser and takes out his clothes for the day. The closet shows another change as his clothes now take only half the space as they did before and the eclectic mix next to his makes him grin as he pulls out a shirt for himself.

He still doesn't know how they managed to keep it a secret for so long. Someone should have gotten a hint when Marianne started sending him boxes the first week after he returned home from visiting her. Donald or Dawn should have noticed Marianne's things start to go missing. It would have been understandable if it wasn't for the fact that nearly every acquaintance of theirs was dropping hints about Marianne moving to Sombreville and when it finally happened, everyone was surprised...and a little miffed at the couple.

Discarding his bathrobe and quickly dressing, Bog tries not to laugh out loud as he remembers how everyone in Sombreville found out about their plan. One nosey mail carrier was all it took for everyone to know that their mayor was holding a secret. Not that Ignatius was truly nosey since he was only doing his job in sorting the mail for his routes that fateful Saturday morning and had noticed Marianne's mail mixed in with his. He only called Plum, who called Griselda, who called Beaker when Bog was slow to answer his phone because he was feeding the horses, and then Beaker called Thang who then told his new bride. From there, Stuff called Lizzie, who told Pare while he was serving breakfast to the morning customers, and by the time Bog had called his mother back, nearly everyone knew Marianne wasn't coming just for spring break but to move in.

So it was, that when Marianne drove into Sombreville the last Monday of March with her grudge-holding little sister in the passenger seat of her Cascada, she was welcomed with most of the town ready and waiting. At least Donald took the surprise better and had no complaints on driving behind with the rented moving truck filled with everything Marianne couldn't send.

"What so funny," Marianne questions?

Bog turns to look at her as she unravels herself from her hoarded blankets and moves to sit up. He'd swear that she's the most beautiful creature ever. Her short brown hair even more of a mess than usual and her half-lidden amber eyes only add to her charm.

"I was just thinking about the day you moved here," he answers. "You can't deny that it's still funny how shocked everyone was even though they repeatedly mentioned something about it."

"Apparently, they thought we would have been more stubborn about the whole thing," she chuckles. "I don't think Dawn has yet forgiven me for keeping it a secret until that last week."

"You'd think she would be thrilled to have full control to run The Blacktop Butterfly down there," Bog comments.

"At the sacrifice of throwing me an over-the-top going away party? Not a chance," Marianne laughs before yawning.

Bog watches worriedly as Marianne rubs her eyes before shuffling out of bed. He moves to help her make the bed and frowns as he notices the dark circles under her eyes. The frown lessens at her contented hum as he lays his hand on her cheek and leans down to give her a kiss. Her sluggish movements as she grabs her clothes brings the frown back.

"Maybe you should take a few days off," he murmurs. "You've been working too much lately."

"Don't worry. I only have one work thing to do today and then you and I both are taking a few days off," she remarks, heading downstairs.

"Have A.C. do it and take today off," Bog suggests.

"Can't. A.C. has his fitting today, remember," Marianne reminds? "It's fine, though. I only need to drive a rental to Valeburg and bring the woman's car back to the garage."

"I thought you weren't going to take any Valeburg customers until after you finished with everyone in Sombreville," he mentions.

"She's Maya's sorority sister's sister's mother-in-law, so I'm doing this as a favor to Maya," she explains. "The poor woman has already paid over eight thousand dollars in repair fees and the Valeburg mechanics still can't fix the problem. She really hates the idea of getting rid of it because it's been such a reliable car since the day she bought it when her son was in kindergarten but now that it's acting up, I'm its last chance before she sells it to the junkyard. It doesn't need to be fixed immediately because she's leaving this afternoon to visit her son and expecting daughter-in-law in Oakandale for a week and a half, hence why I'm bringing her the rental car so that I can test how her car drives for myself."

"And then you're taking the rest of the day off," Bog states.

"Eh...I forgot to tell you, didn't I," Marianne asks?

Bog can't resist leaning down to give her another kiss at her confused expression. She would kill him if he told her how cute she looked right now. Pulling back, he grins at her complaint at his chasteness but he pulls away before she can pull him down.

"Go take your shower and I'll start breakfast, then you can tell me what you forgot to," he orders.

* * *

"Have I told you lately how much I love you," Marianne hums, hugging Bog from behind?

"Hmm, well you didn't say it when you woke up, so I just thought you're getting bored of me," Bog teases.

"Never! I love you, Bog Roi," she murmurs.

"I love you more, Marianne Crown," he counters, turning around to give the demanding woman attention. "The bacon _(kiss)_ will burn _(kiss)_ if you keep _(kiss)_ distracting me."

Marianne laughs at his half-hearted rebuke before moaning as his caresses wander to her neck and his teeth are added to his adoring touch while his hands pull her tighter against his form. They really should stop or neither of them will get to work on time. Oh, but how much they need this.

She growls as Bog pulls back and turns his attention to the cooking food. They are definitely taking the next few days off and having them-time.

"So, what did you want to confess," Bog questions?

"For starters, I'm having lunch in Valeburg today," Marianne comments, putting the dishes on the table.

"Lizzie will feel neglected," he remarks.

"Yeah, well, I'm not about to travel back to Sombreville twice just because Lizzie's food is divine. I'm having lunch with Dad, Dawn, and Sunny because what I forgot to tell you is that they're exploring Valeburg today," she explains.

"Exploring," Bog repeats?

"They miss me and are seriously contemplating about moving up here. But as much as they like Sombreville, they're city folk through and through," Marianne quips.

"This is a year for change, apparently," he chuckles, moving the food to the waiting plates. "So, what's going to happen to the original Blacktop Butterfly if they do decide to move here?"

"Rose, Ivy, and Violet will be placed in charge of that one," she answers. "Dawn and Sunny are planning on opening their own branch of The Blacktop Butterfly in the city they plan to move to, which is a toss-up between Valeburg, Oakandale, and Stone Point."

"Oakandale and Stone Point are both several hours away, though," he points out. "I mean, it's better than several hours by plane or a few days by car but it's still a distance, especially once winter hits."

"Hence why Dad insists on thoroughly checking Valeburg first," Marianne remarks. "They'll be house hunting while they're exploring, so it might take them a few days to really look the city over."

"Make sure they don't forget about the parade and dinner tomorrow," Bog reminds.

"They won't forget that. Dawn is too excited about the Easter egg hunt before the parade," she laughs. "I swear, it's a good thing that Sombreville's Easter egg hunt is for adults too or Dawn would try to pretend that she is a kid."

"She doesn't need to pretend," he quips, grinning at her laughter.

* * *

"You were supposed to take the rest of the day off," Bog grumbles.

Marianne just barely keeps from screaming at the sudden interruption to her work but that doesn't mean she doesn't noticeably jump, the flying wench is a testimony against her. In the past three weeks, she had gotten used to the change of working without the background noise of Dawn, Sunny, and the triplets. Even when A.C. worked, he didn't make as much noise as her previous crew did and most of the time she had forgotten that he was there.

She chuckles sheepishly and rubs the back of her neck as she turns to face her irate boyfriend, completely forgetting her oil-covered hands.

"I was," Marianne defends. "But it's such an easy fix that I figured that I'd do it now instead of later."

"If it's such an easy fix then how come it's taken you all day," he questions? "I was about to head home when Thang mentioned that your car was still here when he came by city hall to drop off the Easter eggs."

"The poor woman spent over eight thousand dollars on car repair bills that did diddly-squat when all she needed was her spark plug wires changed and I wasn't about to just change them without doing some maintenance as well. Now this baby will purr as if it is brand new," she explains, patting the engine of the silver Concorde.

The low growl from Bog as he rubs his face with his hand sets her on edge. Not the good kind of edge, either. Her suspicion is confirmed when he removes his hand to glare at her, his blue eyes a burning flame instead of cooling water.

"Marianne, you need to take better care of yourself," Bog yells!

"Hey! I'm doing just fine," she growls!

"No, you're not," he growls back. "You've been working yourself to exhaustion these past few weeks. Or did you forget why you had the doctor appointment yesterday? You're only lucky that you aren't coming down sick with something but you will if you keep working like this."

"Says the biggest hypocrite," Marianne counters. "I'm not the only one who's been working a lot. Whatever days you have off yourself from being the 'Important Mayor', you spend either working at the fire department or getting Foret Lodge ready."

"I'm used to this but you're not," Bog remarks, waving off her protest. "You started the original Blacktop Butterfly with Dawn and as good as my brother is, he's not been much help since this Blacktop Butterfly's official opening. Then whenever you're not working on cars and paperwork for here, you're working to make sure Sombreville Rentals is running smoothly. Face it, Marianne, I'm right and you know it! "

"So you're saying that I'm not cut out for the job," she asks?

"I didn't say that," he protests! "Don't put words in my mouth. I'm just saying that you're dealing with a lot of change right now and you need to slow down."

"I don't need you to tell me what I can or can't do. I can take care of myself," Marianne comments firmly.

"Fine," Bog yells!

"Fine," she yells back!

"Fine! I'll pick dinner up at Primrose, don't be late coming home," he mutters, heading for the door.

Marianne sniffles as Bog lets the door slam shut on his way out and wipes away a stray tear as the sound of his truck rumbles to life before fading into the distance. Fine.

* * *

The big jerk!

Where does he get off telling her what to do! She didn't need another over-sheltering well-meaning father. One is enough, thank you very much.

That thought only makes groan before dropping her head into her hands, not caring about the buffing rag now smothering her face. Maybe she overreacted. It's not like Bog knew that she had just had the same argument with her dad during lunch and it's not like she didn't understand their concerns. She just has a lot to do.

Deciding that the car is done, Marianne throws the rag onto the worktable and heads to the employee locker room. She laughs at her reflection, covered with oil stains and car wax, before grabbing her hygiene kit and fresh clothes out of her locker and heading to the work shower. The hot water can't block her thoughts as she bathes mechanically.

It's not like Bog and her dad are wrong. She knows how fast paced everything has been since the week after Valentine's Day. After all, there was making sure Dawn knew how to run The Blacktop Butterfly on her own but that was kind of taken care of when she stayed for two weeks for Christmas and New Year's vacations. There was finishing up her classes at the high school and bidding everyone goodbye. How her family didn't find out about that, she doesn't know. Finalizing the plans her dad came back with after the meeting with Sombreville and getting the project started, including the automotive garage adjacent to the rental company.

Luckily, she didn't have to do anything with the construction of said buildings and they were mostly finished when she moved into Bog's house. All that was left was to furnish the buildings and get everything in order. The grand opening of both Sombreville Rentals and The Blacktop Butterfly happened a week after she moved to Sombreville, so she didn't really have much time to relax.

From there, everything just became busier as she started working on every vehicle in Sombreville, one resident at a time. It didn't help that Bog was busy himself as his mayoral duties increased with the coming spring and the added job of getting Foret Lodge ready for its reopening. Not only did he help with the cleaning and maintenance of the lodge and its cabins but he also helped clear the trails of winter damage. The last time the two of them ate a dinner they cooked themselves was three weeks ago. It was either from Primrose Diner or from Griselda.

Then all the changes caught up with her and she became really sick. So much so, that it scared Bog into canceling everything for the day and threatening his doctor in Valeburg to take her that very morning or else. She's really curious what his "or else" meant because whatever it was, it worked like a charm and the doctor who couldn't take any new patients and was completely booked, somehow managed to squeeze her in for some tests.

And Bog, the sweet man, stayed by her side through all of it. He never left her side at all yesterday and declared an early bedtime when they finally got home after picking up her prescribed medication.

Okay, fine. She definitely overreacted toward Bog, the sweet overly-worried jerk.

* * *

"I know you're there, Maya," Marianne calls through the grate as she dresses.

"Really? How could you? I'm being really super quiet," Maya insists.

"That chair squeaks," Marianne points out, snickering as Maya quits spinning around in the office chair. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I noticed that Bog looked angry when he came in here and I was worried," Maya comments. "I couldn't help but overhear your argument, so I stayed to make sure that you're okay. I mean, my big brother is such a jerk! Where does he get off telling you what to do! You can take care of yourself. You don't need him hovering, watching, and worrying over you."

Grabbing her things as Maya rattles on, Marianne tries to contain her laughter as she walks out of the employee's locker room and notices the short nineteen-year-old chatting up to the grate. There are times that she is sure that Maya is Griselda, several decades and three kids ago, but she also reminded her of another familiar person.

"He's such a mother hen and worries over the smal...," Maya continues before jumping at Marianne's pointed cough.

"Maya, I know what you're doing," Marianne remarks.

"Moi? I'm not doing anything," Maya states innocently. "Whatever do you think that I'm doing? That I'm totally not doing, by the way."

"Reverse psychology. You're insulting Bog so that I would defend him and admit that he was right," Marianne comments, smirking at Maya's shock.

"How'd you know," Maya asks?

"Seriously? If I didn't know that it's completely impossible then I would swear that you and Dawn are twins separated at birth. You're both too much alike," Marianne quips.

"Well, we are soul-sisters," Maya declares.

"What nonse...," Marianne starts before cutting herself off.

Something didn't feel right. She got a very suspicious feeling the longer she stared at the beaming woman before her. Maya is acting too innocent and too easy-going about the whole thing.

The nineteen-year-old really is nearly identical to the twenty-four-year-old that Marianne grew up with, except for one thing. Maya didn't worry easily as Dawn did. No, she is Griselda's carbon copy and is determined to a fault, fixing things out of sheer stubbornness. So it doesn't make sense that the redhead is just giving up on convincing her how great a guy Bog is. Unless...

Oh no!

"Maya," Marianne growls. "My sister-senses are tingling. Please tell me that you did not sic Dawn on Bog."

"He should have stayed and talked to you. Not leave and make you cry," Maya comments.

"I wasn't crying. I...uh, I have allergies," Marianne mutters.

"Puh-lease! That might have worked back in your old city but there's still a foot of snow here," Maya remarks. "If you weren't crying then my brothers are Casanova-incarnate."

"Well, Casanova did have a great sex life," Marianne mentions, cackling at Maya's squeal of disgust.

* * *

Bog sighs heavily as he puts hay into the horses' hay rack before mucking out Goblin's stall. It only took him the drive from The Blacktop Butterfly to Primrose Diner to admit that he overreacted for yelling at Marianne. It didn't help that Dawn showed up while he was waiting for his order to get done.

He should have known the blonde would show up. After all, Marianne told him that morning that her family was in Valeburg which meant that they would be getting a room at Plum's and he did see Maya nearby when he left the garage. He will forever regret introducing the little sisters to one another that day Marianne moved in. They bonded instantly and made it their mission to dictate how their eldest siblings lived. Hence, Dawn's confrontation about his behavior.

It's not like he's trying to control Marianne. He just wants her to take better care of herself and not overdo it. The scare from yesterday was enough and he has no desire to go through that uncertainty again.

The sound of the barn door opening makes him look up and Bog watches as Marianne walks in. He tries to hide his smile as she moves to reach for the other pitchfork to help before crossing her arms with a growl. He knows how much she wants to help, something she's done even when she was visiting but she's also trying to obey his request this morning by letting him do the work. It doesn't help that Marianne looks so cute when she's frustrated.

"I know," Bog comments, giving her a chaste kiss before moving to Fairy's stall. "It's only for a little while and then you can start helping me again."

"Still mad at me," Marianne questions?

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just worried," he insists. "There's been so much change happening lately and the one change I don't want in my life is you gone from it."

"I know and you are right about me needing to slow down," she admits.

"No, Mari...," Bog starts.

"You are right," Marianne insists, moving her fingers from his mouth to stroke his jaw. "I know I've been working too hard. We did have that conversation this morning, remember? I told you that I wouldn't be working today and yet I did. It's just that when I drove the car and realized what the problem was, I figured that I would fix it now and then we wouldn't have to interrupt our time together later. When I called the Mrs Roxton to tell her the good news after I tested out the fixed spark plug wires, I should have left the maintenance she requested for A.C. to do but...well, you know how I get."

"Yeah, you're just like me," he chuckles. "Why make someone do something that you can do yourself, right? We both need to slow down. You are right about me being a hypocrite."

"Bog, that's no...," she starts.

Bog drops the pitchfork to catch Marianne as she stumbles from being pushed by Fairy. The Percheron mare looks at the pair unrepentantly before drinking from her water bucket that Marianne was in front of.

* * *

"Oh, you're so sweet," Marianne coos as she looks in the take-out containers.

"Don't give me the credit. Pare suggested it when I ordered dinner," Bog admits, lifting the strawberry shortcake parfait cups out of their box. "Apparently, I have a post-argument face and he thinks that food is great for making-up."

"Considering his wife is a chef, it is," she chuckles. "But aren't these supposed to be served tomorrow?"

"Lizzie came out, took one look at me, and then told me to listen to Pare," he remarks. "Now, back to our conversation before Fairy interrupted us. Both Mom and Dad have been on me for years for working too much. It just didn't matter to me before since I always came home alone but things are changed now and I need to change with it."

"You don't need to quit one of your jobs just because of me. You love each of them," Marianne murmurs, setting the table.

"I do love my jobs but I love our time together more. It's not that I have to quit one of them, a little change with each of them will give me more time," Bog explains, transferring the food to the plates. "I'm going to talk to Dad about moving me from being part-time with the fire department and volunteer search and rescue to being in the reserves. That way I'll only be called in when they need everyone, which is usually only during the winter months. There are plenty of workers at Foret Lodge that I don't need to take as much work as I do and Beaker has been complaining since I became mayor about my tendency to do his work as well as mine."

"What did Dawn say to get you to plan all that within an hour," she questions?

"I've actually been thinking about it for a while now and when I was driving to Primrose I...," he starts before stopping as he realizes everything she just said. "How did you know that Dawn said something to me?"

"Maya," Marianne explains, laughing at his groan. "She came in when I was showering and tried reverse psychology to get me to admit that you were right. It might have worked had she came in while I was finishing up the car but since I had already thought things through, her insults were amusing. She called you a mother hen, by the way."

"Cluck cluck," Bog mutters, grinning at her laughter. "Dawn said quite a bit, some made sense but it was mostly insulting me as much as possible. It was only a miracle that A.C. was eating dinner there or I would never have made it home. He contacted Mom about it and she came to calm your sister down."

"How did Griselda get Dawn to leave it alone," she asks?

"She told her that we can handle a lover's tiff on our own without anyone's interference and that we'll make up when we've both calmed down," Bog comments. "I didn't hear what else she told her because since Mom was distracting Dawn, I grabbed the take-out and escaped as quickly and quietly as possible."

"Next time, just say something to threaten her sanity and Dawn will leave you alone...for a little while, anyway," Marianne remarks. "It's what I usually do and it works on Maya, too."

"Nothing works on Maya. She's too much like Mom," he grumbles.

"Maya ran out of the garage pretty fast when I mentioned her brother's sex life," she snickers, laughing harder when Bog starts coughing.

* * *

Marianne hums in contentment as Bog idly combs through her mussed-up hair as he watches the crackling fire from their place on the couch. No matter how much she hates having an argument with him, she has to admit that she absolutely loves their making-up. She snuggles against his chest a little before planting a line of kisses from his left pec to his jaw.

"Behave, tough girl," Bog warns softly. "Let's not overdo it tonight."

"Cluck cluck," Marianne teases.

"And proud of it," he chuckles. "Besides, if we don't get some restful sleep tonight, we might miss the Easter Bunny in the morning. We have to get up really early if we want to take embarrassing photos to blackmail him with later."

She joins his laughter as she lays her head back down against his bare chest. Ah, the Easter Bunny, another delightful Sombreville tradition. A tradition where a draw chose one lucky Sombreville resident to dress in a rabbit costume and distribute hundreds of thousands of brightly-colored plaster eggs throughout the town in the pre-dawn hours of Easter morning. Such a pity that her first Easter in Sombreville didn't surprise her with a Mayor Easter Bunny but the mayor's disgruntled brother works just as good.

"You didn't tell your family who the Easter Bunny is, did you," Bog questions?

"And ruin the surprise? No way," Marianne comments. "Besides, most of the talk was about everything they managed to find this morning. Kind of a good thing that it took the entire meal to tell me all that because the second the conversation lulled when we were getting ready to leave, Dad took the opportunity to lecture me."

"Lecture you? About what," he asks?

"Seems he called Sombreville Rentals yesterday to talk to me and found out that I called off because I was sick," she explains. "It was pretty much the same argument that you and I had but worse. He pulled the I'm-also-your-boss card."

"I hate that card," Bog groans. "No wonder you were on edge and retaliated when I yelled at you. Which I am sorry for doing. Had I just calmed down and listened to your reasons of why you wanted to finish the car then we could have avoided that whole mess."

"Had we both calmed down," Marianne corrects. "It really was stupid of me for getting so defensive on a topic that I actually agreed with you about. I didn't even react that bad when I was arguing with Dad."

"Maybe you were more tired after working on the car than you realized," he suggests, getting an agreeing hum. "So how did your argument with your dad go?"

"He lectured me about working too hard again and I told him that while I'm working more than I have for the past year, I'm actually working less now than when I opened the original Blacktop Butterfly," she answers.

"But you had Dawn and Sunny then," Bog comments.

"Dawn and Sunny were still in school at the time, so I was doing almost all of the work myself until Dad took both sets of the garage keys with him on his next out-of-town trip to force me to take a break," Marianne explains. "Something that Dad threatened to do again if I don't slow down. Putting him as a silent partner to The Blacktop Butterfly may keep us out of a lot of legal problems but Dad is far from silent. He's also gloating proudly that you managed to make me go to the doctor yesterday."

"Did you tell your Dad what the doctor said," he asks?

"I managed to tell him about the doctor thinking that my body hasn't adjusted enough to the change in my environment before they had to leave. They had an appointment with a realtor about a duplex they had seen while exploring," she murmurs before yawning.

"Alright now. Time for bed," Bog orders before yawning himself.

"Hypocrite," Marianne chuckles, squealing as he picks her up.

* * *

"Awww, why the long face, A.C.? Didn't the Easter Bunny leave you any eggs to exchange for prizes," Bog asks? "Or is it because Lucille isn't back from studying abroad yet? Don't worry. I already sent her plenty of photos of your fluffy long-eared self so she won't miss you too much."

"I hate you," A.C. grumbles. "I know you rigged the draw."

"Don't blame your brother for your failed attempt to prank him," Loch scolds. "You're just lucky that we didn't draw one of Bog's twenty-three entries or you would have wound up the Easter Bunny for the next three years."

"You don't have to be so mean, Dad," A.C. mutters as everyone laughs.

"Speaking of mean, don't you have something to say, Dawn," Griselda questions?

"Sorry for yelling at you yesterday, Boggy," Dawn murmurs.

"Bog," Bog and Marianne correct.

"And," Griselda prods?

"I won't meddle anymore," Dawn continues, getting a satisfied nod from Griselda. "Unless you two don't make-up within a few days and then we're totally gonna meddle."

Bog laughs as his mother shakes her head despairingly as Dawn and Maya high-five one another. He laughs harder when both girls squeal in disgust at Marianne's comment about making up being the best part.

"Don't be so crude, Marianne," Dawn complains.

"Crude? I haven't said anything crude," Marianne defends. "I'm only stating facts. Besides, you're awfully squeamish considering you're getting married next month. Poor Sunny, I pity him. How ever did he manage to propose to you on Christmas?"

"Please leave me out of this," Sunny mutters.

Whatever else is planned on being said is cut off as Bog notices Stuff's nod and he leaves the table to head toward the raised center platform. Turning to face the waiting crowd, he can't help but reflect on all the changes that have happened since the last Easter. Most notably a certain brunette smiling up at him from his family's table.

"There isn't much for me to say that Preacher Jonas hasn't already said this morning. Easter is mostly about change, life from death and new beginnings," Bog starts. "Our beloved town has gone through a lot of change since the last Easter. Some sorrowful because of members that are no longer here to celebrate with us and some joyful because of new members becoming one of us. Already we've had new life..."

Bog pauses to wince as Beaker's newest daughter takes that moment to squeal from their table nearest him. He resists the urge to rub his ringing ear as the mayor's aide tries to quiet the three-month-old.

"Lively life at that," Bog quips, grinning at the resulting laughter. "We've had blessed unions, even an unexpected one that was incredibly impatient..."

"Oh shush, we waited long enough," Stuff remarks loudly.

"And we've welcomed new neighbors that will soon feel as if they've always been one of us," Bog continues, nodding toward two different families before smiling warmly at Marianne. "Yes, much has changed so far and much will still change in the coming year but one thing will stay the same, that though we are not all connected by blood, we are family. Let us, together, face the changes that await us with courage and strength."

Applause sounds through the diner as he finishes his speech and he moves to step off the raised platform before thinking better of it. He's safer up here.

"One more thing before I forget," Bog mentions, edging farther away from his family's table. "To spare myself the lecture I had received last month, I'll make my announcement now about another change that is going to happen soon. I'm going to be a father."

"Bog, I'm gonna kill you," Marianne yells as she gets squashed between Griselda, Dawn, and Maya!

**Tea Blend.**


	2. Adjusting

**Adjusting**

**Sometimes plans are needed for adjusting smoothly to life-changing situations but sometimes even plans need to be adjusted.**

"I'm still mad at you," Marianne murmurs as Bog walks through the back door.

"It wasn't that bad," Bog chuckles.

"Says the man who told the news while he was safely thirty feet away," she counters. "Dad, Loch, Sunny, and A.C. had to pry those three off me."

"I wasn't 'safely' thirty feet away, if you recall," he comments. "I got bombarded by everybody else. It's the only time that I've ever seen Lizzie not care about the food she cooked."

"Should have waited until after dinner," Marianne points out.

"And then we'd probably forget again or something would come up," Bog remarks. "You know that if we waited too long to tell everyone, we would be in serious trouble. As it is, they were miffed that we didn't tell them on Friday when the test results came back. We're not allowed to keep secrets, remember?"

Marianne snorts before yawning. It's funny how the day seems so long today even though it's not like the day truly got longer. Of course, getting up long before dawn to go Easter Bunny hunting and no mid-day nap probably didn't help with how tired she felt, especially since there was no way either of them could get a moments peace once the news was let out.

"We keep a secret one time because we didn't want anyone to get their hopes up in case something came up and they treat us like criminals," she mutters.

"At least you remembered to tell your family, I had forgotten that no one knew you were moving here until Mom yelled at me," he comments. "They're just worried that we'll forget to tell them something else."

"Like their hints about making an honest man out of you suggest," Marianne remarks.

She tries to contain her laughter as Bog quickly shuts the cabinet door he was opening, showing a dark look. It is obvious who he thought the culprit is for the hint. Turning off the flame under the pot she is stirring, Marianne ignores his unspoken demand for details and ladles out the potato soup.

"No, it was not Griselda," she denies. "Not even Plum, Stuff, or Lizzie."

"Little sisters who swore not to meddle," he questions?

"Nope. A couple of old men," Marianne hints. "I had to explain to everyone about why we aren't getting married just yet thanks to our dads."

"And he calls Mom stubborn," Bog growls. "I already told Dad our reasons for not getting married right away...I...I mean..."

"It's alright, Bog," she reassures. "Griselda asked me about us getting married when I was working on Plum's car two weeks ago and I told her that we've talked about it during your visit to my old city and several times since then. I explained to her our reasons about it being too soon with all the other changes that we've dealt with and about us not being financially ready yet. She said that we're worrying over nothing but she's glad that we've talked about it."

"She accepted it just like that? That's surprising," he mutters.

"She accepted it," Marianne confirms. "Your mother can be very understanding when she wants to be, you know."

"When she wants to be is the operative word," Bog chuckles.

* * *

"Isn't it a little early to be doing the nursery," Bog asks?

"Lizzie suggested it. She said that it's best to get everything settled before the hormones truly kick in or I'll never be able to make up my mind," Marianne mentions, drying the dish he hands to her.

"That's true. Pare complained that he had to redo their first nursery five times before Lizzie decided she liked it the first way," he chuckles. "So, do you want to start turning the guest room into the nursery tomorrow since we both have the next four days off?"

"We need to plan something before we do something," she laughs. "It's going to be a little hard since it's far too early to know if the baby is a boy or a girl."

"We could do a gender neutral room," Bog suggests. "That way it'll work for either one. We'll have to paint the walls a lighter color, though, or the room will be too dark for the baby."

"Oh, but it'd be terrible to cover up that lovely wood," Marianne sighs. "Maybe it'll still brighten the room if we use wallpaper on one or two walls, that way the wood won't be damaged."

"That should work," he agrees. "If we're going to leave the wood showing then maybe we could do a forest or a field theme for the nursery or a field within a forest, like the one near Foret Lodge."

"That sounds perfect. Maybe we could even add some little animals for a bit of charm," she mentions. "Where are we going to put the furniture that's in the room now? There's no way that we can put it in the attic."

"We are planning an upstairs to the garage, remember? So we can leave it in there for now until the garage is built," Bog comments.

"Have all the answers, do you," Marianne teases? "Just how long have you been planning all this?"

Bog blushes as she unknowingly calls him out. He hands her the last dish before draining the water. The desire to avoid the question is high but her prodding causes him to sigh and he pulls her against him.

"For a while now. Probably since Christmas," he admits softly. "It just felt so right to have you here that I couldn't help but see you here permanently, you and a few small ones that look just like you."

"You forgot about the small ones who look just like you," Marianne murmurs, leaning up to kiss his jaw. "They're the ones I've been picturing around this house with their daddy."

"And just how long have you been picturing them," Bog questions?

"Probably since Christmas," she remarks.

* * *

Bog smiles warmly at his lover curled peacefully underneath the blankets as he looks into their bedroom. It's been such a long day that he's not surprised that she fell asleep while he was putting wood in the fireplace. He makes a move to step into the room but changes his mind and walks into the guest room instead.

It really didn't take them more than a half hour to get everything planned out. Not surprising since they've both been fantasizing about their future together for months and he can just picture the changes that will happen in the room.

Light green wallpaper on the longest wall and also on the lower half of the opposite wall, accenting the dark wood nicely while also brightening the room. They found a wall decal that would be perfect for their desired theme with its tree and woodland animals. Marianne had loved his suggestion of making the nursery furniture himself out of maple with a light colored stain, though she was surprised when she found out that he had made most of his furniture himself. All that is left to plan is just baby essentials and they should be able to get everything they need without too much hassle...or too much money.

Bog sighs and runs his hand through his short black hair. His blue eyes drift from the darkened empty room to the lighted occupied room just down the hall.

He really hopes that they'll still be able to have the wedding before the baby is born. Not that it'd bother him if the baby is born while they're still unmarried, he just wants to be married to Marianne. A feeling that he knows is mutual.

His mother is wrong, they're not worrying over nothing. They're completely ready to get married without any regrets but the money is just a tight thing at the moment with everything. Buying Fairy, his usual yearly contributions to Foret Lodge, and finally getting around to building that garage he's needed for years has really dwindled his savings. It won't take that long for them to save up the money for the wedding they want but at the moment, the baby is more important and the wedding will just have to wait.

Just like it waited when Marianne had to use more money than she planned to get The Blacktop Butterfly up and running. She apologized a dozen times for not being able to help him with getting the garage built, even though he insisted that she didn't have to and that he had planned to build it even had she not asked. He couldn't help but worry about what else will come up to stall their wedding plans. Maybe...

A yawn breaks through and he shrugs off his thoughts, deciding to talk to Marianne about it in the morning. Bog moves to go to bed but the nightstand catches his attention. Pulling two small boxes from the nightstand drawer, he empties the contents into his hand and returns to his own room.

The light from his lamp glints off the black titanium stainless steel as he gently pulls Marianne's left hand from underneath her pillow and slips the ring on her ring finger. He gives the golden crown stamped on the band a kiss before sliding Marianne's hand back into place.

"I was wondering when you'd get around to giving me that," Marianne murmurs suddenly.

* * *

She can't contain her laughter as Bog trips over his feet at his startlement and falls to the ground beside the bed. Trying to hide her smile at his glare doesn't work, so she leans over to give him a kiss instead.

"I thought you were asleep," he mutters, raising himself up.

"Waiting for you," she comments.

Marianne grabs his fisted hand and pries the matching ring from inside it. He complies to her handling and allows her to slide the black titanium stainless steel ring onto his ring finger before she kisses the golden crown stamped on the band.

"Her King," Marianne murmurs, quoting the hidden text on the inside of his ring.

"His Queen," Bog remarks, quoting the hidden text on the inside of her ring. "When did you find them?"

"Two days after I moved in," she answers, laughing at his groan. "You were out on a rescue call, remember? I was checking the guest room to make sure I didn't leave anything in there and I found the rings. I didn't want to ruin whatever you were planning, so I kept it a secret. Truthfully, I couldn't resist trying my ring on every time I was home without you. When did you get them?"

"I ordered them when I was visiting you," he admits. "We were talking about all the plans of you moving here and all I could think about was making sure you stayed with me. So, when you had to go to the news station to talk to the manager about his employee's claim that you planted that stolen tailpipe on his car, I browsed the internet for a perfect ring for you."

"These are perfect," Marianne confirms. "Not only will it hold up nicely but it's a clever play on your last name."

"My last name had nothing to do with it, Grease Queen," Bog denies, blushing at her skeptical look.

"Sure it didn't, The Bog King," she comments dryly.

"I never should have told you about that terrible school nickname," he groans.

"Well, it's better than Boggy," Marianne chuckles. "Now, back to the ring. Did you really plan to slip it on my finger while I was sleeping? Because it's a bit anticlimactic after four weeks of trying not to let you know that I know."

"I didn't have a plan at all," Bog confesses. "I should have given it to you after you moved in but I actually forgot about them. I remembered on Friday when the test results came back that you are pregnant but we were both tired when we got home and I was a bit worried that you might think I was only proposing because of the baby, which I'm not. Then I got to thinking a little while ago."

"About what," she prods at his hesitation?

"The baby and the wedding," he murmurs. "I know we've talked about having a wedding and all the trimmings, that it's something that we both want. As it is, though, it's looking like a plan that keeps getting pushed back for one reason or another. I love you, Marianne, and it doesn't bother me if we're married when the baby is born or not but I...well, I want to marry you, even if it's not the wedding we were planning."

"Bog, I love you more but I'm tired and it's late. Be blunt," Marianne orders, smiling as his laughter.

"Let's get married," Bog states. "Get our marriage license and sign it in front of witnesses. We can still have our wedding later if we want. Maybe on our anniversary."

"You do realize Stuff and Thang will tease you relentlessly in payback for all your teasing," she points out.

"It's different," he insists. "Stuff and Thang got married three weeks after they started dating officially. We've been dating since New Year's Day and have been kind of engaged for about eight weeks. So, what do you say?"

"We're going to have to get up early again if we want to catch Dawn and Sunny before they check out of Plum's. They'll sic both A.C. and Maya on us if we let them go home without telling them about the change in plans," Marianne remarks.

**Tea Blend.**


End file.
